Lawyer: Why is white Muslim getting better deal than Arab Muslim?

On paper, Sebastian Gregerson and Khalil Rayyan sound a lot alike, if their alleged crimes are any indication.

Both are accused of supporting terrorist groups. Both allegedly had an affinity for guns and talked a lot about jihad. Both were stung by the FBI.

But one is a white Muslim convert, the other an Arab Muslim with immigrant parents — a difference that one attorney fears could lead to an injustice as the white suspect appears poised to get a much better sentencing deal.

The government wants to lock up Rayyan for eight years; Gregerson could get less than half that.

Rayyan will learn his fate today at a 2:30 p.m. sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh. Gregerson will be sentenced June 30.

Under a plea deal, Gregerson, a married father of twins, avid hunter and gun enthusiast who converted to Islam after high school, faces three to five years in prison for possessing explosives. Rayyan, a single, 22-year-old pizzeria worker whose parents are Palestinian immigrants from Jordan, faces eight years for gun charges tied to marijuana use: He was trying to buy and use a gun while using pot at the same time.

Rayyan's sentencing guidelines call for a prison sentence of 15-21 months, but the government says that's not enough and it's pushing for eight years instead, saying he's too dangerous to roam free so soon.

"Is Khalil being punished for being an Arab Muslim from Dearborn, as opposed to a Caucasian?" Shanker asked in court, saying "it makes no sense" that Gregerson is facing less time when "his case is far more scary."

"He had grenades. He had a machete. He had multiple AKs, 16 guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a book on sniper fire and ... he threatened to kill people," Shanker wrote of Gregerson.

Shanker has asked for a 15-month sentence for Rayyan, claiming he was manipulated by two FBI undercover employees posing as love interests who pushed him to make radical statements.

The federal government paints a different picture.

Prosecutors argue that Rayyan deserves a lengthy sentence because — they say — he's a danger to the community, and, it's necessary to deter others who may be contemplating terrorism or mass shootings. Prosecutors have alleged that Rayyan contemplated mass murder and talked about being a jihadist, killing women and children at a church, and killing a police officer in a hospital.

Khalil Abu-Rayyan(Photo: Wayne County)

"He pinpointed the location for each attack," prosecutors argued in court documents. "And he specified his weapon of choice: an AK47 with a 40-round magazine."

"It's clear the defendant is dangerous," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet said in court last month, responding to questions about why Rayyan is facing a stiffer sentence than Gregerson.

Rayyan, who pleaded guilty to two gun charges, was never charged with terrorism-related crimes. The government says that the FBI blocked Rayyan from implementing his ideas because it arrested him first.

Rayyan came onto the FBI's radar in 2015 after he allegedly bragged about plans to “shoot up” a Detroit church. The FBI had tracked him through social media, phone conversations and surveillance, following his two Twitter accounts, on which he expressed support for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Shanker argues his client is not the man the government is painting him to be.

"Rayyan is not a terrorist," Shanker has argued in court. "He never intended to hurt anyone."

"When push came to shove in their conversations, not only did Rayyan refuse to agree to any act of violence, he pleaded with (one woman) not to hurt herself or others," Shanker argued in court records.

Shanker argues that his client "fully and completely understands why the FBI targeted him," but that he now denounces ISIS and understands the "bastardization" of the Muslim religion by radicals. Moreover, he argues, his statements were protected under the First Amendment.

Gregerson's lawyer has made similar arguments, maintaining the government overstated its case and that his client's statements on Facebook about the conflict in the Muslim world and terrorist attacks were protected speech.

Gregerson, 30, of Detroit was arrested in July after allegedly buying grenades from an undercover FBI agent at a Monroe gas station. He pleaded guilty to unregistered possession of destructive devices. He was never charged with a terrorism crime, but prosecutors accused him of plotting jihad on behalf of the Islamic State in court documents — information it disclosed in an effort to keep him jailed. The government seized an arsenal of weapons from his home, including a loaded AK47, a machete, a grenade launcher and hundreds of rounds of AK47 ammunition.

Sebastian Gregerson(Photo: Jerry Lemenu, Special to the Free Press)

According to courtroom testimony, Gregerson converted to Islam more than a decade ago after graduating from high school in Ann Arbor. He has worked at Target and Walmart and taken courses at Henry Ford Community College. He remains jailed pending his June 30 sentencing. He faces a maximum of five years in prison.

Gregerson has been spared the fate of other Americans who were charged with and convicted of trying to support terrorist groups or join their mission.

For example, in February, a Wisconsin man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for trying to join the Islamic State. Joshua Van Haften, 36, was arrested two years ago on his way to Syria to join ISIS. According to the Department of Justice, he swore allegiance to ISIS in an online post, stating: “The only thing that matters to me is joining my brothers for the war against America liars.”

In 2015, a federal judge sentenced a 19-year-old Colorado woman to four years in prison after she admitted to wanting to join ISIS and participate in jihad in the Middle East. Shannon Conley, a Muslim convert who wanted to marry a Tunisian ISIS fighter and become a nurse in an ISIS camp, had asked for leniency. But prosecutors argued for a tough sentence to deter others from joining terrorist groups and turning to extremism.

That same year, a federal judge sentenced Leon Davis, of Augusta, Ga., to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a a terrorist organization, specifically ISIS. According to the Justice Department, for more than a year, an FBI-led team investigated Davis’ attempts to join an overseas terrorist group. He was arrested at an airport in Atlanta on a parole violation.